BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


READ  AND   CIRCULATE! 


SPEECH. 

OF 

GOV.  DANIEL  8.  DICKINSON 


AN  OLD  JACKSON  DEMOCRAT, 


DELIVERED  AT  THE 


GREAT  UNION  MEETING 


PRINTED  BY  R.  C.  MOORE,  538  SACRAMENTO 

,...»v,.» 

1863. 


x 


SPEECH  OF  GOT,  DANIEL  S,  DICKINSON 


Cries  of  "Dickinson,"  "Dickinson," 
"  Old  War  Horse,"  etc.  Mr.  Dickinson 
responded,  was  received  with  prolonged 
applause,  and  addressed  the  audience  as 
follows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 
That  the  rebellion  is  upon  us  which  threat 
ens  the  very  existence  of  this  Union  is  de 
nied  by  none  ;  that  it  is  one  of  such  form 
idable  proportions  as  cannot  be  handled  by 
political  parties,  should,  I  think,  be  ad 
mitted  by  all.  That  this  war  was  com 
menced  in  a  corrupt  and  perjured  conspir 
acy,  and  murderous  thieving  rebellion,  will 
not  be  denied  ;  that  it  is  intended  to  over 
throw  this  government  no  rational  man 
can  doubt ;  and  it  becomes  us  as  a  people, 
as  a  whole  and  united  people,  without  re 
gard  to  distinctions  of  caste  or  party,  to 
come  forward,  if  the  government  is  worth 
preserving  aud  preserve  it.  [Applause.] 
It  is  as  wicked  and  alarming  as  its  origin 
was  causeless,  and  no  one  but  a  traitor  to 
our  government  can  be  found  its  defender 
or  apologist.  It  will  be  found  time  enough 
to  look  after  politics,  to  pack  conventions, 
and  make  nominations  for  office,  when  we 
find  we  have  a  country  to  govern.  [Re 
newed  applause.]  For  myself,  I  go  with 
those  in  this  great  crisis  who  sustain  the 
government.  I  started  out  in  the  direction 
of  putting  down  and  overthrowing  this  re 
bellion.  If  I  were  to  go  to  New  York,  I 
would  take  the  route  and  conveyance 
tliat  would  carry  me  there,  and  not  one 
that  would  take  me  in  the  direction  of 
Canada.  [Cheers;  a  voice,  "Bully."]  I 
do  not  know  who  my  associates  are,  or 
whence  they  came.  What  they  were  yes 
terday  is  very  little  concern  to  me.  I 
would  prefer  to  go  with  my  old  personal 
and  political-  friends,  if  they  go  in  my  di 
rection,  and  such  of  them  as  go  with  me  for 
putting  down  this  rebellion  will  have  my 
company  ;  those  who  do  not  go  for  this,  will 
not  have  my  company,  as  I  go  with  those 
who  strike  the  earliest  and  strongest  blows 


to  put  down  the  rebellion  with  the  whole 
power  of  the  government,  [cheers]  and 
enforce  unconditional  submission  at  the 
earliest  moment.  [Renewed  applause.] 
My  convictions  on  this  question  are  these : 
while  I  would  prefer  going  with  personal 
and  life-long  associates,  in  crushing  out 
this  rebellion,  not  that  I  love  party  less, 
but  that  I  love  country  more ;  [applause] 
if  Democrats  won't  go  with  me,  I  will  go 
with  Republicans ;  if  Republicans  won't 
go  with  me,  I  will  go  with  Abolitionists, 
and  if  Abolitionists  won't  go  with  me,  and 
if  white  men  won't  go  with  me,  I  will  go 
with  black  men  ;  and  if  that  is  treason  to 
party  or  country,  then  make  the  most  of 
it,  and  they  can  put  it  into  their  pipes  and 
smoke  it.  [Shouts  of  applause  and  laugh 
ter.]  I  hold  this  great  government  and  its 
blessed  institutions  to  be  more  than  all 
political  parties ;  and  so  help  me  God,  I 
will  never  slumber  nor  sleep  until  I  see  the 
last  rebel  leader  on  a  gibbet,  and  the  masses 
in  rebellion  return  to  their  allegiance  and 
duty.  [Cheers.] 

In  efforts  to  maintain  this  government 
of  our  fathers  in  its  integrity — to  perpet 
uate  the  blessings  of  freedom  to  coming 
generations,  and  to  preserve  humanity's 
holy  hope,  the  Union,  we  have  expended 
hundreds  of  millions  of  treasure  and  of 
fered  up  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our 
sons  on  the  bloody  field  of  battle ;  and 
yet  the  contest  rages  in  all  its  fierceness, 
and  rebellion  is  still  striving  to  fasten  its 
fangs  in  the  throat  of  the  nation.  Gov 
ernment  must  resist  or  yield  the  control. 
The  question  is  one  of  easy  and  simple  so 
lution.  The  rebel  leaders  have  repelled, 
with  ineffable  scorn,  every  suggestion  of 
arrangement  short  of  a  divided  Union ; 
and  whoever  joins  in  the  cry  of  stopping 
the  war  and  restoring  the  Union  before 
the  rebel  arms  are  laid  down,  is  either  a 
traitor  or  a  fool,  and  should  be  judged  ac 
cordingly.  It  cannot  be  restored  in  any 
other  way  than  by  force  of  arms.  It  is 


] 


our  duty  now  to  rally  around  the  old  flag 
and  our  armies  in  the  field  who  have  so 
bravely  sustained  it.  The  question  has 
been  and  is  whether  the  government  shall 
exist,  and  not  how  it  shall  be  administered. 
It  is  above  and  beyond  political  parties  in 
their  influence  for  good.  It  concerns  all 
the  people,  and  all  parties  alike  who 
desire  to  preserve  the  government  and 
maintain  free  institutions ;  and  the  attempt 
to  raise  the  cry  of  partisan  strife  is  no 
more  nor  less  than  to  give  life  and  aid  to 
the  rebellion  and  embarrass  the  adminis 
tration  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 
Some  who  "  have  been  everything  by 
turns  and  nothing  long,"  cry  out  as  loudly 
in  the  honored  name  of  Democracy  as 
though  they  had  been  commissioned  to 
administer  its  dispensations,  and  seem  to 
suppose  that  under  the  disguise  of  its 
shield  they  may  practice  such  "  fantastic 
tricks  before  high  Heaven  as  make  the 
angels  weep."  [Applause.] 

They  boast  of  what  the  party  accom 
plished  in  its  days  of  pride  and  power, 
and  so  far  as  most  of  them  are  concerned 
well  may  they  remember  its  prowess,  for 
they  were  its  opponents  as  halting,  semi- 
abolitionists,  softs,  and  shysters,  and  Demo 
cratic  castigations  were  not  unfrequently 
administered  to  their  recreant  skins. 
[Shouts  of  applause  and  laughter.]  Like 
all  new  converts  and  hypocrites,  they  can 
not  speak  three  words  now  but  two  of 
them  will  be  Democracy  !  But  the  lion's 
skin  was  never  sufficiently  ample  to  cover 
the  ears  of  the  ass,  [laughter]  much  less 
to  suppress  his  unmistakable  notes ;  [ap 
plause]  and  when  the  petty  politicians, 
disguised  in  Democratic  habiliments,  have 
strutted  their  brief  hour  and  are  then  ex 
posed  to  the  shame  which  their  fraud  de 
mands,  it  will  be  seen  over  again  that 
Democracy  is  a  principle  and  not  a  name. 
It  is  said  to  be  an  instinct  of  the  copper 
head  to  crawl  into  the  burrow  of  some 
noble  animal ;  but  without  regard  to  its 

'  O 

"local  habitation,"  it  is  a  venomous  reptile 
still.  The  people  will  judge,  as  God  will 
judge,  of  men  by  their  actions,  and  not  by 
their  false  pretences  and  noisy  confessions. 
None  will  escape  by  their  counterfeit  cry 
of  Democracy.  The  murderous  Joab  flew 
from  the  wrath  of  the  wise  King  of  Judea 
to  the  inclosures  of  the  tabernacle,  that 
he  might  escape  the  vengeance  due  to  his 


crimes  ;  but  he  was  slain  while  clinging 
to  the  very  horns  of  the  altar ;  and  those 
who  aid  and  assist  rebellion,  will  find  that 
even  true  Democracy  will  be  for  them  no 
city  of  refuge — much  less  the  spurious. 
[Renewed  laughter  and  applause.]  De 
mocracy  has  been  able  to  survive,  and  even 
to  dignify  terms  of  reproach ;  but  it  was 
when  it  was  guided  by  honored  and  noble 
leaders,  and  when  its  principles  were  just. 
But  it  will  be  seen  that  when  its  name  is 
"  stolen  to  serve  the  devil  in," — when  an 
odious  designation  is  given  its  managers 
befitting  their  principles,  when  the  weight 
of  such  leaders- would  have  broken  down 
Andrew  Jackson  himself;  and  when  the 
creed  they  profess  is  in  itself  infamous,  the 
name  and  those  who  bear  it  will  each 
communicate  disgrace  to  the  other.  The 
Democracy  of  General  Jackson  and  his 
adherents,  with  principles  that  "the  Union 
must  and  shall  be  preserved,"  [cheers]  is 
one  thing  ;  the  self-christened  Democracy 
of  copperhead  leaders,  with  principles 
which  aid  and  encourage  rebellion  and 
justify  and  sympathize  with  traitors,  quite 
another.  The  exploit  of  the  eagle  which 
bore  away  the  lamb  in  his  talons  was 
worthy  of  the  admiration  of  all  birds  of 
prey.  The  poor  crow  which  sought  to 
transport  the  old  ram  into  the  upper  .re 
gion  was  equally  worthy  of  ridicule. 
[Roars  of  laughter  and  applause.]  If  our 
whole  people  had  acted  together  in  this 
matter,  the  rebellion  would  have  been 
crushed  a  year  ago.  I  started  with  the 
idea  that  ih&  rebellion  in  arms  must  be  put 
down  by  force  of  arms,  and  I  entertain  the 
same  sentiment  now.  And  when  that  is 
accomplished,  we  shall  have  the  "  Consti 
tution  as  it  is  and  the  Union  as  it  was." 
Slavery  was  no  part  of  either,  and  if  its 
crockery  gets  broken  in  the  melee,  I  shall 
be  heartily  glad  of  it.  [Laughter ;  a  voice, 
"  Good."] 

I  hold  to  the  Democracy  of  General 
Jackson,  that  the  "  Union  must  and  shall 
be  preserved,"  [applause]  and  not  to  the 
copperhead  Democracy,  that  we  must  stop 
the  war  and  allow  rebellion  to  dictate 
terms  of  peace.  I  would  even  go  with 
copperheads  if  they  would  go  to  put  down 
the  rebellion  instead  of  apologizing  for  it. 
This  is  the  ground  I  took  in  the  beginning, 
and  is  the  ground  I  shall  maintain  to  the 
end.  I  have  made  many  speeches  enforc- 


ing  these  ideas,  which  have  been  exten 
sively  published,  and  made  the  subject  of 
comment,  some  in  rebeldom.  and  some  in 
Europe  ;  but  I  am  happy  to  say  that  none 
of  them  have  been  approved  by  copper 
head  or  rebel  journals  here,  [renewed  ap 
plause]  or  pirate-fitting,  rebel  sympathizing 
journals  in  Europe.  I  repeat,  names  are 
not  things,  nor  things  names.  A  rebel 
against  the  government,  whether  in 
Charleston  or  Albany — whether  he  makes 
it  openly  or  secretly — whether  with  arms 
in  his  hands  or  secret  whispers  on  his 
tongue,  is  equally  a  traitor  to  his  govern 
ment.  [Cheers.]  Convicts  in  our  prisons 
are  clad  in  a  peculiar  costume,  and  trained 
and  dieted  in  a  peculiar  manner;  but  it 
is  not  the  sentence  of  the  court,  the  walls 
of  a  prison,  the  striped  jacket,  the  mush 
and  molasses,  nor  the  lock  step,  that  makes 
the  villain.  It  is  the  Iieart,  whether  in 
broadcloth  or  beaver — whether  inside  or 
outside  of  prison  walls.  Those  who  sympa 
thize  with  rebellion  in  the  loyal  States 
seem  not  to  have  been  flattered  with  much 
recent  success.  Toombs  boasted  some 
years  since  that  he  would  call  the  roll  of 
his  slaves  in  Massachusetts.  That  beinof 

O 

inconvenient,  Jeff.  Davis  called  his  a  few 
years  since  in  Connecticut,  [laughter]  but 
the  number  was  insufficient  to  satisfy  the 
demand,  and  the  number  is  daily  growing 
less. 

But  the  copperhead  politicians,  like 
their  Confederate  military  friends,  are 
about  to  make  a  change  of  base.  [Re 
newed  laughter.]  Liberal  propositions 
of  peace  are  to  be  suspended  for  a  season 
to  make  way  for  free  speech.  They  tell 
us  they  are  union  men  and  are  for  free 
speech.  They  have  been  for  peace  and 
for  settling  this  terrible  war,  while  they 
know  the  rebel  leaders  will  not  lay  down 
their  arms  until  their  independence  as 
they  term  it,  is  acknowledged  and  the 
Union  dissolved  !  They  declare  they  are 
for  the  re-construction  of  the  Union  by 
peaceful  means ;  yet  they  know  that  if 
we  lay  down  our  arms  and  close  this  war 
and  patch  up  a  peace,  we  are  at  the  mer 
cy  of  the  most  hellish  despotism  on  earth. 
But  finding  that  this  old  idea  is  pretty 
snuch  played  out,  and  that  they  must  have 
a  new  one,  they  want  something  that  will 
draw.  [Applause.]  You  will  not  hear 
any  more  about  "  liberal  propositions  of 


peace  "  in  a  long  while,  Now,  it  is  all 
"  free  speech !  "  A  noisy,  blurting  brag 
gart  and  gassy  traitor,  Villindam  [roars 
of  laughter  and  applause]  or  Vallandig- 
ham,  late  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Ohio,  who  has  offensively  opposed  the 
war  and  justified  the  rebellion  from  the 
beginning — who  has  been  openly  claimed 
by  the  rebels  as  their  friend — who  strenu 
ously  opposed  supplies  for  the  war — who 
was  drummed  out  of  a  camp  of  volun 
teers  in  his  own  state  [applause — "  Good 
for  him — he  ought  to  be  hung"] — who,  in 
his  last  race  for  Congressional  honors,  was 
allowed  to  remain  at  home  by  the  loyal 
people  of  his  district — who  reside  near 
the  borders  of  Kentucky — has  been  ar 
rested  by  General  Burnside,  in  whose 
military  department  he  is  ;  ["  good  "] 
and  the  moment  he  is  arrested  for  some 
alleged  defense  in  that  Military  Depart 
ment — we  don't  know  for  what,  and  his 
admirers  here  don't  know  for  what — but 
by  consent,  they  set  up  a  howl  from  Rich 
mond  to  Canada  in  behalf  of  "free  speech  I" 
Poor  Vallandigham  I  arrested  in  the  night 
time,  and  at  his  own  house !  as  though  he 
ought  to  have  been  arrested  in  somebody's 
else.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  He  has 
been  tried  by  court-martial — he  had  the 
assistance  of  counsel  and  the  attendance 
of  witnesses  in  his  behalf.  The  evidence 
has  not  been  published,  nor  do  we  know 
what  it  was.  It  is  said  he  was  sentenced 
by  the  court  to  imprisonment  in  Fort 
Warren,  but  there  is  no  authority  for  this 
declaration.  No  nation  can  exist  in  time 
of  war  without  the  war  power.  You  can't 
make  a  woman's  school  of  a  great  war. 
[Renewed  laughter.]  It  does  not  proceed 
according  to  statute  or  the  code  !  There 
are  great  principles  which  civilization  has 
established  for  their  guidance  between 
civilized  nations  and  peoples,  but  martial 
law  is  bounded  only  by  discretion  of  the 
Commander-in-Chief.  It  is  from  the  na 
ture  of  the  case  despotic,  for  war  is  little 
else. 

Liberty  of  speech  is  one  thing.  Liberty 
of  treason  is  another.  The  liberty  of 
speech  is  sacred ;  but  this  does  not  include 
the  right  to  act  as  a  spy  and  convey  in 
telligence  to  the  enemy,  which  may  des-. 
troy  thousands  of  the  lives  of  our  soldiers 
— endanger  our  army  and  jeopard  the 
existence  of  government.  [Applause.] 


Swords  and  knives  are  free;  but  this 
gives  no  one  the  right  to  commit  murder. 
Fire  arms  are  free,  and  exempt  from  seiz 
ure  on  execution,  and  yet  no  one  has  a 
right  to  discharge  them  at  his  neighbor. 
Fire  is  free  ;  but  the  one  who  should  em 
ploy  it  to  destroy  the  dwelling  of  his 
neighbor  would  be  the  subject  of  an  "  ar 
bitrary  arrest " — in  his  "  own  house  "  if 
he  should  be  found  there — "  in  the  pres 
ence  of  his  wife  and  children,"  if  he  had 
them.  And  these  "  arbitrary  arrests  "  in 
criminal  law  are  of  daily  occurrence,  and 
in  martial  law  of  not  unfrequent  occur 
rence  in  all  wars, — especially  such  a  war 
of  rebellion  as  this,  with  spies  and  traitors 
hatching  treason  and  "aiding  rebellion 
all  along'  the  border.  Any  lawyer  who 
cannot  discriminate  between  civil  law  and 
martial  law  should  be  treated  for  simplic 
ity  on  the  brain.  [Shouts  of  applause 
and  laughter.]  The  functions  of  martial 
law  and  the  authority  upon  which  it  rests, 
was  freely  stated  by  me  last  fall  in  a 
speech  made  at  the  Cooper  Institute.  It 
is  a  dangerous  power,  but  its  absence 
would  be  more  dangerous.  It  is  liable  to 
abuse,  but  no  war  can  be  conducted  with 
out  it — especially  such  a  war  as  this. 
Whether  it  was  judiciously  exercised  in 
this  case,  and  whether  the  paltry  fellow 
was  worth  arresting,  I  do  not  know,  and 
do  not,  for  all  present  purposes,  care.  All 
we  can  inquire  of  is,  does  the  power  ex 
ist,  and  if  it  does,  was  it  exercised  in  good 
faith  ?  If  it  was,  even  though  General 
Burnside  was  mistaken,  he  is  to  be  en 
couraged  for  his  watchfulness  and  com 
mended  for  his  vigilance.  [Applause.] 
Two  great  and  hasty  and  noisy  meetings 
have  been  held,  one  in  New  York,  at  which 
Captain  Rynders  and  others  spoke,  and 
even  the  late  Thomas  H.  Seymour,  of  Con 
necticut,  preached,  [laughter]  and  one  at 
thiscapitol,  wherehis Excellency  Governor 
Seymour  administered  upon  the  wrongs  of 
Vallandigham  by  letter.  The  Governor 
says  this  arrest  is  full  of  danger  to  our 
homes.  Who  is  in  danger  in  his  home, 
pray  tell  ?  No  one  unless  he  has  done 
something  to  put  himself  in  danger.  The 
pious  thief  and  burglar,  Gordon,  of  Brook 
lyn,  who  attended  conferences  and  prayer 
meetings  with  the  young  ladies,  discovered 
where  they  kept  their  jewelry  and  then 
entered  their  houses  and  robbed  them  by 


night,  was  a  long  time  in  danger  in  his 
home  [roars  of  laughter]  and  by  and  by 
the  cruel  police  went  in  large  number  san  d 
with  their  murderous  clubs,  and  in  the 
night  time,  too,  and  "  arbitrarily  arrested  n 
him  and  put  him  in  prison,  and  the  Court 
sent  him  to  State  prison  for  twenty  years. 
All  for  stealing  a  few  trinkets.  Yet  Gov 
ernor  Seymour  says  nothing.  Had  he 
connived  with  rebellion  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  only  great  free  government  on 
earth,  and  he  had  been  detected  and  ar 
rested,  it  would  have  been  "  arbitrary." 
But  it  interfered  with  the  "freedom  of 
speech."  How  ?  Who  has  objected  to 
the  freest  possible  discussion  ?  Freedom 
of  speech  does  not  confer  the  right  to  go 
before  an  enemy  and  stimulate  mutiny 
and  disobedience  and  recommend  deser 
tion.  It  does  not  justify  any  thing,  which,, 
in  a  time  of  war,  is  calculated  and  intended 
to  weaken  the  military  arm  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  Governor  complains  that  the 
Governors  of  some  of  the  Western  States 
have  sunk  into  insignificance.  It  is  cer 
tainly  time  to  be  on  the  lookout.  I  hope 
whatever  may  become  of  other  States, 
New  York  may  not  find  herself  in  the 
same  pitiful  category.  [Laughter.]  It  is 
certainly  a  humiliating  position  for  the 
first  State  of  the  Union,  when  the  scales 
of  our  being  as  a  nation  are  vibrating — 
when  our  children  are  dying  by  thousands 
in  defence  of  the  Union,  to  see  the  chief 
magistrate  turn  from  contemplating  the- 
picture  with  anxious  solicitude,  to  de 
nounce  the  government  and  encourage  the 
rebellion,  because  a  ranting,  foaming, 
frothing,  gasdonading  traitor  [cries  of 
"  hang  him,  hang  him"]  has  been  charged 
with  un  offense  cognizable  by  martial 
law,  and  has  been  arrested,  and  after  a  full 
and  fair  trial,  convicted.  This  is  the  spe 
cies  of  support  which  Governor  Seymour, 
and  those  who  are  with  him  from  the  be 
ginning  of  the  war,  have  given  to  the  admin 
istration,  and.  this  he  calls  a  '"generous" 
one !  They  now  propose  to  "  pause,"  as 
he  tells  us ;  and  if  they  will  but  "  pause"  in 
their  assaults  upon  the  administration — in 
their  proclaimed  sympathy  with  traitors, 
and  in  their  encouragement  to  rebellion,, 
they  will  confer  a  favor  upon  the  present 
and  coming  generations.  [Applause.]  The 
people  cry  "  pause,"  but  it  is  to  those  en 
gaged  in  assaults  upon  the  administration, 


3 


not  to  those  who  are  striking  death  blows 
at  the  rebellion.  They  cry  "  pause,"  but 
they  cry  to  those  who  give  aid,  encourage 
ment  and  comfort  to  the  rebels.  The  sol 
diers  are  among  us  here,  and  they  cry 
"  pause"  in  stimulating  the  rebellion. 
They  have  perilled  their  lives  in  defense  of 
the  government.  With  heads  uncovered 
and  with  bosoms  bared,  they  have  met 
the  enemies  of  free  institutions  upon  the 
battle  field,  [vociferous  cheering]  and  they 
cry  "  pause"  to  you  who  are  encouraging 
this  rebellion.  The  wife  and  the  mother 
cry  "  pause"  to  you  who  by  sympathizing 
with  traitors  encourage  resistance  to  the 
government  and  its  institutions ;  they  con 
jure  you  to  pause — pause  in  your  mad  ca 
reer  ;  the  husband  and  the  son  have  been 
slain ;  your  partizanship  gives  aid  to  the 
rebels.  The  father  cries  "  pause"  in  your 
encouragement  to  rebels  inarms.  "Jo 
seph  is  not,  Simeon  is  not,  and  you  would 
take  away  Benjamin  also."  There  are 
others  who  cry  **  pause."  I  adopt  the  lan 
guage  of  his  Excellency,  the  Governor, 
and  cry  *'  pause,"  Our  sons  and  brothers 
sleep  in  death.  Tongues  which  are  silent 
in  death,  could  they  speak,  would  cry 
•*  pause" — they  would  say  you  have 
marched  us  here — we  come  to  defend  our 
country's  flag — we  come  to  vindicate  the 
honor  of  our  nation — we  come  to  preserve 
the  holy  memories  that  cluster  around  the 
banner  for  which  our  fathers  fought ;  you 
have  lent  hope  and  encouragement  to  the 
rebellion  ;  "  pause"  in  your  course.  Yes, 
I  say  "  pause."  When  you  sit  down  at 
your  table  "  pause" — set  a  vacant  chair 
there — a  skeleton  will  be  at  your  side. 
When  you  proceed  to  your  chamber 
"  pause ;"  death  will  be  there.  At  the 
hour  of  midnight  "  pause  ;"  the  pale  face 
and  skeleton  finger  will  point  to  the  record 
of  aid  you  have  given  the  rebels  in  arms 
against  the  government.  If  these  men  are 
not  punished  at  judgment,  if  not  here,  I 
shall  be  mistaken.  For  men  who  assist  in 
this  rebellion  if  not  executed  and  damned 
eternally  hereafter,  hemp  will  lose  its  value, 
and  hell  will-  forfeit  its  character  for  mis 
use.  [Great  cheering,] 

Men  are  mistaken  in  supposing  that 
they  can  form  parties  on  the  issues  of  our 
country's  fate.  The  great  popular  mind 
sways  to  and  fro ;  it  may  be  diverted  from 
the  purpose,  but  it  will  b«  ever  constant 


and  true  in  upholding  the  government. 
Who  believes  that  this  rebellion  can  be 
disposed  of  in  any  other  way  except  by 
the  power  of  the  sword  ?  I  took  the  po 
sition  in  the  beginning,  and  I  take  it  at 
the  end.  All  rebeldom  can  have  peace 
when  they  lay  down  their  arms.  But 
there  are  men  here  who  continually  prate 
of  their  democracy — great  democrats — 
they  know  all  about  democracy,  and  to 
judge  by  their  actions  they  care4  very  lit 
tle  about  anything  else.  You  recollect 
the  boy  said  to  his  father,  suppose  we  call 
our  old  horse's  tail  a  leg,  how  many  legs 
would  he  have  ?  Five,  said  the  father. 
Oh,  no,  said  the  boy ;  calling  the  tail  a 
leg  would  not  make  it  a  leg.  [Roars  of 
laughter.]  Men  may  call  themselves 
Democrats,  but  it  does  not  make  them 
Democrats.  The  first  great  principle  of 
democracy  is,  according  to  Jackson,  "  the 
Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved,"  [ap 
plause,]  and  there  is  where  I  stand  to 
night — it  must  be  preserved,  no  matter 
from  what  quarter  the  assaults  may  come. 
It  must  be  preserved  against  all  its  ene 
mies.  [Renewed  applause.]  Why,  sir, 
pretended  leaders  of  democracy  as  we 
now  have  would  have  swamped  even  An 
drew  Jackson  in  his  first  quarter.  [Roars 
of  laughter.]  By  their  fruit  ye  shall 
know  them.  Now  is  the  time  for  every 
Democrat,  for  every  Jackson  Democrat, 
for  every  Republican,  for  every  man  who 
is  an  honest  man,  to  assist  in  maintaining 
the  government  and  putting  down  the  re 
bellion.  [Voice :  "  How'r  you  going  to 
put  it  down  ? "]  Put  it  down  as  Saul  put 
down  Agag,  hew  it  right  down  through. 
[Applause.] 

But,  fellow-citizens,  the  thing  will  all 
come  right  by  and  by.  The  returned  sol 
diers, — and  they  are  in  all  parts  of  this 
mass  of  people, — will  bring  home  their 
stories,  and  will  tell  copperheadism  how 
much  advantage  there  is  to  be  gained  by 
shaping  their  course  for  political  purposes, 
and  giving  the  country  the  go-by.  What 
we  want  is  to  concentrate  public  opinion — 
we  want  to  bring  the  whole  force  and 
power  of  the  government  where  it  can 
rest  on  this  rebellion ;  and  it  must  be 
done.  The  masks  must  be  torn  from  the 
faces  of  all  copperheads.  One  side  or  the 
other  of  this  question  must  be  taken. 
One  is  the  side  of  truth,  fair  dealing. 


8     ] 


honesty  in  the  support  of  the  government; 
the  other  is  the  side  of  falsehood  and 
quibbling  and  denunciation  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  path  of  falsehood  leads  to 
the  rebel  ranks,  and  in  expressions  of 
sympathy  and  condolence  with  and  for 
traitors.  Let  each  man  take  his  position. 
I  have  taken  mine  on  the  side  of  truth, 
justice  and  the  government.  I  know 
what  this  government  and  these  institu 
tions  have  done  for  the  great  cause  of 
freedom*  and  knowledge  and  science.  I 
intend  to  maintain  my  position.  Let  them 
attempt  to  drive  me  from  it.  Let  them 
come  with  all  their  party  machinery  and 
party  whips.  "  Lay  on,  Macduff^  and  d — d 
be  he  who  first  cries  hold !— -enough." 
[Renewed  applause.]  The  Abolitionists 
have  been  forty  years  endeavoring  to 
destroy  slavery,  but  Jeff.  Davis,  by  making 
and  waging  war  upon  the  government, 
has  destroyed  it  in  two  years.  ["  Bully 
for  you."]  He  has  buried  it  past  resur 
rection,  and  all  the  people  cry  Amen  !  I 
never  agreed  with  the  Abolitionists.  They 
abused  me  and  I  abused  them.  [Laugh 
ter.]  I  settle  my  accounts  as  I  go  aloftg ; 
and  I  don't  know  that  our  disagreement  is 
any  reason  why  they  should  stand  back 
and  see  the  government  destroyed,  and  I 
know  it  is  no  reason  why  I  should.  [Ap 
plause.]  / 

Mr.  D.  alluded  to  the  future  of  this 
country,  peopled,  as  it  would  be  at  no 
distant  day,  by  a  hundred  millions  of 
souls — to  the  distress  in  the  Old  World 
and  the  calls  upon  the  new  for  bread — -to 
the  abandonment  of  home  and  all  dear  to 
them,  and  their  coming  here  and  enjoying 
the  blessings  of  free  institutions  with  all 
the  benefits  they  confer.  He  did  not  see 
how  any  man  of  foreign  birth  could  take 
the  British  side  of  this  question.  It  is 
not  a  struggle  between  Abolitionism  and 
slavery.  It  is  a  struggle  between  free 
government  and  despotism  and  aristocracy 


throughout  the  world.  It  is  a  struggle 
for  British  rule  on  this  continent.  It  is 
the  same  spirit  of  despotism  which  abol 
ished  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  the  same 
that  put  the  iron  heel  on  the  neck  of  Ire 
land.  No  such  government  as  ours  ever 
existed,  or  will  exist  again.  Destroy  H7 
overthrow  it,  and  hope  for  a  season  will 
bid  the  world  farewell.  Our  country  is 
not  a  nation  of  nobility  and  crowned  heads* 

"HI  fares  the  land,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay, 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish  or  may  fade '. 
A  breath  can  make  them  as  a  breath  hath  made} 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
"When  once  destroy'd  can  never  be  supplied." 

What  I  wish  is  no  party  advantage  in 
this  matter ;  what  I  wish  to  see  my  fel 
low-citizens,  of  all  parties  and  all  creeds, 
rise  up  to  the  importance  of  this  ques 
tion  ;  what  I  wish  is  to  throttle  every 
miserable  politician  who  carries  his  party 
banner  above  that  of  his  country,  until  he 
shall  cry  "  pause."  [  Cries  of  "  good," 
and  applause.]  What  I  wish  is  to  see 
our  brave  soldiers  sustained  in  the  field. 
[Renewed  applause  and  three  cheers.] 
What  I  wish  is  to  see  the  loyal  masses  in 
the  rebel  States  strengthened  and  sus 
tained  ;  what  I  wish  is  that  disloyal  and 
bad  men  may  be  brought  to  condign  pun 
ishment. 

I  thank  you,  fellow-citizens,  for  this  op 
portunity  to  address  you.  I  came  not 
prepared  ;  but  this  is  a  subject  on  which 
I  can  talk  whenever  I  get  an  opportunity. 
[Applause.]  I  hope  to  live  to  see  this 
country  vindicated.  I  believe  I  shall  live 
to  see  the  clouds  driven  from  the  sky,  and 
all  the  stars  in  our  bright  escutcheon  left, 
and  the  blessings  of  free  government  per 
petuated. 

Mr.  Dickinson  took  his  seat,  the  audi 
ence  giving  him  cheer  after  cheer.  The 
band  responded  by  playing  "  Columbia, 
the  gem  of  the  ocean." 


Published  by  order  of  the  Union  State  Central  Committee. 

NATHANIEL  HOLLAND, 

JAS.  T.  HOYT,  Chairman. 

Secretary. 

Rooms,  No.  22  Montgomery  Street,  opposite  Lick  House. 


